1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to electrical connectors and more particularly, to a stacked LAN connector assembly mounted to an apparatus such as a notebook type personal computer, a game machine or the like and mated with a modular plug corresponding thereto.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Modular jack receptacle connectors and Universal Serial Bus (USB) connectors are commonly used the computers or network appliance as input/output ports for transmitting data or signals. An example of such a connector is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,162,089 issued to Costello et al. on Dec. 19, 2000 which describes a stacked LAN connector. The Costello connector includes a stacked USB component and a modular jack component secured in respective portions of main housing, an outer shield around the main housing and an inner shield surrounding the stacked USB component. The inner shield includes a front shield having a plurality of grounding legs and a rear shield attached to the front shield.
However, high frequency transmission requires EMI shielding and crosstalk protection be formed between modular jack and USB connectors in order to improve quality of transmission. Moreover, the structure of the Costello connector is obviously complicated and the cost of the connector is thus relatively high. Furthermore, the inner shield is relatively large for forming the grounding legs in addition when used in stacked modular jack application and the assemble process is complicated. The mounting process and ground connection become more complicated when more ports are integrally made as an assembly.
Hence, an improved electrical connector incorporating electrical connectors of different types and providing good signal transmitting quality is desired to overcome the foregoing shortcomings.
A main object of the present invention is to provide a stacked connector assembly with reliably EMI shielding.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a stacked connector assembly having a ground plate for simplifying the manufacture and reducing cost.
A stacked electrical connector assembly mounted on a main printed circuit board (PCB) includes an insulative housing defining at least two cavities, a first and second array of conductive contacts received in the housing, a ground plate disposed between the first and the second contacts, an internal PCB arranged in a rear portion of the housing and an outer shell substantially surrounding the insulative housing. The internal PCB includes a ground trace and a number of signal traces in a galvanic connection with the first array contacts. The ground plate includes a grounding claw electrical connection with the outer shell and a grounding leg coupling to the ground trace of the internal PCB.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.